The Museum Mountain
The first thing you learn when you begin your museum journey is getting your foot through the door is hard. Unimaginably Hard. Anyone starting out has this reiterated to them whenever volunteering, networking, or participating in online discourse. Whenever I got a second to engage in the industry, I was reminded that I was standing at the foot of a mountain that, while trodden by many, poses each walker individual challenges. I naively believed I had planned my route: I would rack up hours of volunteering until I landed a job or traineeship and, after one year, sign up for a relevant MA if job hunting had proven fruitless. It was by no means a water-tight plan (looking back now, I have no idea how I was planning to support myself while volunteering or studying), but this post-graduation fantasy kept me optimistic. It may take longer than a year. It may take a lot of unpaid work. It may take further study. But, I was determined to eventually land a paid job in a museum. I'll never k...